For a moment, set aside the reasons exercise is physiologically important: looking better, metabolic health, bone density, increased coordination, mental acuity, etc.
There is a reason, beyond our physiology, that we should all lift weights. Weightlifting, if done properly, is an integrated behavior: A behavior where your mind, body, and heart(desire) are in moving synchronously.
Think, for a moment, about the periods of your day that you are the most present. I would assume, at least three things are happening:
1. You are thinking precisely about the behavior you are engaged in. (this may feel like not thinking at all)
2. Your body is fully immersed in the activity.
3. You deeply desire to be doing it.
This topic deserves our attention because much of our modern life can be accomplished by thinking, and not moving. (knowledge work, without bodily engagement can create a disintegrated pattern) I am not suggesting that all of our work needs to be physically intensive, but I do think when very little of our work, or daily behavior demands us to be physically active it begins to throw us off balance.
Consider how you feel if you have done a lot of thought work, but stayed in the same place all day long. How do you feel? I, paradoxically, feel exhausted and restless all at the same time.
When this is done continuously, over a significant period of time, you can slowly devolve into having more and more disintegrated behaviors. (These are behaviors where your mind, body, and heart (desire) are not synced.) Weightlifting can serve as an antidote to this because it demands three things:
1. It requires focus to move properly. (Mental Presence)
2. Your body is engaged, moving purposefully through stress. (Bodily Presence)
3. It produces a favorable outcome, if done consistently. (Satiating our desire to improve ourselves)
One of the main ways I came to this conclusion is by the sheer volume of people who say they lift weights for one of two reasons: “Lifting gets me out of my head,” or, “I have much better focus afterwards.”
All focus means is: being completely present. I used to think that weightlifting allowed the mind to rest, but in reality it’s actually engaging the mind properly. Lifting weights requires complete mental presence. (Sometimes this feels life not thinking at all) This skill of being present, that weightlifting requires, is contagious.
This is one of the most underestimated benefits of lifting weights, but I have seen it take shape in my life, and the life of my clients. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to see how many integrated behaviors/disintegrated behaviors you engage in:
1. When do I lose track of time?
2. What do I desire to do more of, but haven’t yet?
3. What am I doing when my mind is off thinking while my body is here?
4. What feels like play to me, but looks like work to other people?
5. How often do I feel at peace? What am I doing when that happens?
Lee Ramsey has a passion for fitness as a way to help people grow and change into more adaptable, capable and resilient versions of themselves. He is owner of Sanctify Fitness in Covington and a regular fitness columnist for the NKyTribune.